Properties of MgO at high pressures: Shell-model molecular dynamics simulation

Shell-model molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has been performed to investigate the melting of the major Earth-forming mineral: periclase (MgO), at elevated temperatures and high pressures, based on the thermal instability analysis. The interatomic potential is taken to be the sum of pair-wise additive Coulomb, van der Waals attraction, and repulsive interactions. The MD simulation with selected Lewis-Catlow (LC) potential parameters is found to be very successful in describing the melting behavior for MgO, by taking account of the overheating of a crystalline solid at ambient pressure. The thermodynamic melting curve is estimated on the basis of the thermal instability MD simulations and compared with the available experimental data and other theoretical results in the pressure ranges 0-150 GPa. Our simulated melting curve of MgO is consistent with results obtained from Lindemann melting equation and two-phase simulated data at constant pressure by Belonoshko and Dubrovinsky, in the pressure below 20 GPa. The extrapolated melting temperatures in the lower mantle are in good agreement with the results obtained from Wang's empirical model up to 100 GPa. Compared with experimental measurements, our results are substantially higher than that determined by Zerr and Boehler, and the discrepancy between DAC and MD melting temperatures may be well explained with different melting mechanisms. Meanwhile, the radial distribution functions (RDFs) of Mg-Mg, O-Mg, and O-O ion pairs near the melting temperature have been investigated.